Ferguson case hearing begins next week

Ryan Ferguson will be in Jefferson City next week for a hearing concerning his 2005 murder conviction.

Pretrial motions were completed today in preparation for the hearing of Ryan Ferguson, a man convicted of murder in Columbia in 2005. Ferguson’s attorney claims the evidence used in his trial was not credible.

The attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said her client will attend the hearing next week in Jefferson City.

“He won’t testify in our case in chief because it really doesn’t have to do with him, it has to do with witness recantation," she said.

Witnesses who were not called in the original trial could be called to testify next week.

At the pretrial hearing today in Jefferson City, Cole County circuit judge Daniel Green ruled which evidence could or could not be admitted. Zellner said this pretrial hearing clarified the evidence for both parties.

“We were able to go through with the Attorney General all of the evidence that was not clearly identified to get them to tell us how they’re going to use it," she said.

Charles Erickson incriminated Ferguson in the murder of Columbia Daily Tribune editor Kent Heitholt in 2004. Erickson later recanted and will testify on Wednesday.